I received an email from Original Magic Art, and you can get a playmat of that. However, that email said that Jason Engle had originally drawn this sky view as a single art piece, so no stitching.
I suppose if Wizards returns to Theros one more time, they can fill out this sky view with all the gods. Then, it would not look lopsided with Klothys not having a demigod.
They have solid value for $30 each (assuming the same as last years price).
There is no MSRP anymore, so the pricing will be variable, depending on what the distributors charge the stores. Big box stores are likely to have these for the lowest price possible. I would think pricing will be between $29.99 and $34.99, with a possible high price of $39.99.
It looks like Wizards is moving away from 1-mana enchantment mana ramp and 2 CMC land ramp for green. If you look at all Pioneer-legal sets, prior to Wolfwillow Haven, such enchant land mana ramp cards were 3 CMC. Likewise, there hasn't been a Rampant Growth 2-mana card in Pioneer either. Those cards are also 3 CMC now. So, Pioneer Enchantress needs a bit more strength before being tier 1 or 2.
also you get cards like archon of sun's grace, arasta, destiny spinner, the birth of meletis... i think this is underrated as hell
Arasta is pointless in the current Pioneer meta. The Birth of Meletis might be a Wall of Omens replacement for Pioneer. Archon of Sun's Grace is a little worse than Sigil, as Archon can be killed quickly. I'd only accept Archon if Enchanted Evening was Pioneer-legal.
I don't think Enchantress is going to be a competitive deck any time soon. All the enchantress creatures are vulnerable. Sphere of Safety is costly to cast. Sigil of the Empty Throne is a win condition that is costly to cast.
I really wish Enchantress's Presence was in Pioneer. That would make the draw engine a little less vulnerable. I think a cheaper payoff than Sigil would also help. Alternatively, another wincon besides Sigil would strengthen the offensive power of the deck.
Given the arguably substandard storywriting of the War of the Spark novels and past novels and some of the web stories, we may be better off with synopses for the set narratives and let the fans fill the gaps with their headcanons.
Headcanon is part of the reason Forsaken was so badly received, so I'm not sure letting fans run with that is the best idea.
Your statement is not correct. The problem with Forsaken is that past cards and Wizards stories over the past 2 years had established certain characterizations, relationships, and situations that Forsaken reversed or deviated from those past lore quite suddenly. Essentially, Forsaken was retconning past cards and Wizards stories, so some of the fan base was confused and upset.
If fans want to run with their headcanon or write fan fiction to fill in the gaps, that's their prerogative until Wizards releases official lore.
Yet if the quality of the overall franchise declines, its popularity probably will eventually follow. Now that the game is bigger than any previous point, it is the time to expand on what makes it unique rather than to regress to an earlier stage when the game was small and new.
Wizards will probably cost cut on the story until product sales revenue slips notably. It's always this way with companies: they will seek to save money to make more profit, so they will cut in areas until the product quality gets bad enough for visible complaints and sales loss. I just don't think Wizards is at that point yet.
Alternatively, as Tiro and MoonKnightLite pointed out, much of the creative focus has moved to other properties, basically putting the card game on cruise control. As long as they print competitive cards and enticing thematic sets, Wizards can probably coast on a light narrative for a while. As I said, Wizards will probably focus stories on new sets, not returning ones, to avoid consecutive "synopsis only" sets.
This has been discussed in another thread, but I think it is somewhat myopic for them to consider the investment in the story only through its direct impact on the bottom line. Although only Vorthoses place the lore at the center stage of their fandom, it's also in the background for most other players. Otherwise they would probably just play poker or something like that.
I would agree with you if Magic was a new card game with little or no tournament support. However, Magic is established now and has tournament support, with money and prizes on the line. I think the number of competitive or semi-competitive players dwarf the Vorthoses, so as long as Wizards creates cards that players believe will help them win games, the story (excluding basic world building and synopsis) can take a backseat. Modern Horizons and Core Sets had no story support, but they sold well if they had cards people wanted. (Modern Horizons appears to have sold to expectations, at least.)
I think the brand has a very serious crisis about how it's going to do its storytelling.
Either Wizards goes back to the pre-Weatherlight days of storytelling for their sets, or they will spend money on story for a reduced number of sets. Likely, Wizards will spend money for story on sets taking place on new planes like the upcoming Ikoria, and less or no money on story for most returning planes. For example, Zendikar's story about its people vs Eldrazi is concluded, so in the next Zendikar set, the cards tell the general narrative of "D&D adventuring in dangerous places with a token amount of Eldrazi remnants," and we get a story synopsis.
The lack of a developed story for Theros is the most unfortunate part. One of the main benefits of a set that returns to an established plane is that it gives you an opportunity to deepen the storyline, provide character development, and build a coherent plot through larger story arcs. These were issues they had when they kept on going to a new setting every block. After the presumed end of the Bolas arc with Ravnica, Theros was the first plane where old plot threads were present to be picked up. But the most we have to show for that is a synopsis, so the narrative is pretty much in limbo. That's something that I feel is especially critical to resolve since Bolas was honestly a terrible villain and we need to move on to something better asap.
Given the arguably substandard storywriting of the War of the Spark novels and past novels and some of the web stories, we may be better off with synopses for the set narratives and let the fans fill the gaps with their headcanons.
I haven't even had my coffee yet today. What a super depressing comment.
Sorry to be Debbie Downer. I have been around Revised and the sets pre-Weatherlight were essentially like Theros Beyond Death in narrative. Most of the narrative was alluded to by the cards themselves and it left the gaps to the fan's imagination.
Wizards is not spending the money or political will to have a consistent and cohesive lore that Blizzard does with Warcraft/World of Warcraft. As a result, most of these narratives are not satisfying to Vorthos fans. A few web stories and Bryan Sanderson's story on Daveriel were received well, but for other narratives, the reaction has been bad.
It may be just cost cutting by Hasbro, who only care about the game itself and don't consider story to be super important. They probably think if all the Vorthos players left the game, it would have little financial impact on Magic sales.
And the Hunt for Lili(Ana?), Dovin, and Tezzeret. And with all the knowledge and resources Tezz had he could probably, himself, be a big bad. He also has ties to Phyrexia.
The fate of Dovin was described in the book War of the Spark: Forsaken. Also, in that book, Liliana was found.
The lack of a developed story for Theros is the most unfortunate part. One of the main benefits of a set that returns to an established plane is that it gives you an opportunity to deepen the storyline, provide character development, and build a coherent plot through larger story arcs. These were issues they had when they kept on going to a new setting every block. After the presumed end of the Bolas arc with Ravnica, Theros was the first plane where old plot threads were present to be picked up. But the most we have to show for that is a synopsis, so the narrative is pretty much in limbo. That's something that I feel is especially critical to resolve since Bolas was honestly a terrible villain and we need to move on to something better asap.
Given the arguably substandard storywriting of the War of the Spark novels and past novels and some of the web stories, we may be better off with synopses for the set narratives and let the fans fill the gaps with their headcanons.
That is how white gets card advantage in Commander games...by giving the cards to other players. (If you're a control player you have low creature density in your deck, so this wrath would work against you.)
Wolfwillow Haven seems to be the design pattern now for a fixed Wild Growth or Fertile Ground. The previous cards in Pioneer require at least 3 mana to get that second mana, although Wolfwillow only produces green mana.
If his artstation profile image is the artist himself, it looks like he used himself as the model for these images.
https://www.artstation.com/kieranyanner
I received an email from Original Magic Art, and you can get a playmat of that. However, that email said that Jason Engle had originally drawn this sky view as a single art piece, so no stitching.
I suppose if Wizards returns to Theros one more time, they can fill out this sky view with all the gods. Then, it would not look lopsided with Klothys not having a demigod.
There is no MSRP anymore, so the pricing will be variable, depending on what the distributors charge the stores. Big box stores are likely to have these for the lowest price possible. I would think pricing will be between $29.99 and $34.99, with a possible high price of $39.99.
It looks like Wizards is moving away from 1-mana enchantment mana ramp and 2 CMC land ramp for green. If you look at all Pioneer-legal sets, prior to Wolfwillow Haven, such enchant land mana ramp cards were 3 CMC. Likewise, there hasn't been a Rampant Growth 2-mana card in Pioneer either. Those cards are also 3 CMC now. So, Pioneer Enchantress needs a bit more strength before being tier 1 or 2.
Arasta is pointless in the current Pioneer meta. The Birth of Meletis might be a Wall of Omens replacement for Pioneer. Archon of Sun's Grace is a little worse than Sigil, as Archon can be killed quickly. I'd only accept Archon if Enchanted Evening was Pioneer-legal.
Herald of the Pantheon
Starfield Mystic
Courser of Kruphix
Kruphix's Insight
Wolfwillow Haven
Idyllic Tutor
Destiny Spinner
Calix, Destiny's Hand
I don't think Enchantress is going to be a competitive deck any time soon. All the enchantress creatures are vulnerable. Sphere of Safety is costly to cast. Sigil of the Empty Throne is a win condition that is costly to cast.
I really wish Enchantress's Presence was in Pioneer. That would make the draw engine a little less vulnerable. I think a cheaper payoff than Sigil would also help. Alternatively, another wincon besides Sigil would strengthen the offensive power of the deck.
Your statement is not correct. The problem with Forsaken is that past cards and Wizards stories over the past 2 years had established certain characterizations, relationships, and situations that Forsaken reversed or deviated from those past lore quite suddenly. Essentially, Forsaken was retconning past cards and Wizards stories, so some of the fan base was confused and upset.
If fans want to run with their headcanon or write fan fiction to fill in the gaps, that's their prerogative until Wizards releases official lore.
Wizards will probably cost cut on the story until product sales revenue slips notably. It's always this way with companies: they will seek to save money to make more profit, so they will cut in areas until the product quality gets bad enough for visible complaints and sales loss. I just don't think Wizards is at that point yet.
Alternatively, as Tiro and MoonKnightLite pointed out, much of the creative focus has moved to other properties, basically putting the card game on cruise control. As long as they print competitive cards and enticing thematic sets, Wizards can probably coast on a light narrative for a while. As I said, Wizards will probably focus stories on new sets, not returning ones, to avoid consecutive "synopsis only" sets.
I would agree with you if Magic was a new card game with little or no tournament support. However, Magic is established now and has tournament support, with money and prizes on the line. I think the number of competitive or semi-competitive players dwarf the Vorthoses, so as long as Wizards creates cards that players believe will help them win games, the story (excluding basic world building and synopsis) can take a backseat. Modern Horizons and Core Sets had no story support, but they sold well if they had cards people wanted. (Modern Horizons appears to have sold to expectations, at least.)
Either Wizards goes back to the pre-Weatherlight days of storytelling for their sets, or they will spend money on story for a reduced number of sets. Likely, Wizards will spend money for story on sets taking place on new planes like the upcoming Ikoria, and less or no money on story for most returning planes. For example, Zendikar's story about its people vs Eldrazi is concluded, so in the next Zendikar set, the cards tell the general narrative of "D&D adventuring in dangerous places with a token amount of Eldrazi remnants," and we get a story synopsis.
Sorry to be Debbie Downer. I have been around Revised and the sets pre-Weatherlight were essentially like Theros Beyond Death in narrative. Most of the narrative was alluded to by the cards themselves and it left the gaps to the fan's imagination.
Wizards is not spending the money or political will to have a consistent and cohesive lore that Blizzard does with Warcraft/World of Warcraft. As a result, most of these narratives are not satisfying to Vorthos fans. A few web stories and Bryan Sanderson's story on Daveriel were received well, but for other narratives, the reaction has been bad.
It may be just cost cutting by Hasbro, who only care about the game itself and don't consider story to be super important. They probably think if all the Vorthos players left the game, it would have little financial impact on Magic sales.
The fate of Dovin was described in the book War of the Spark: Forsaken. Also, in that book, Liliana was found.
Given the arguably substandard storywriting of the War of the Spark novels and past novels and some of the web stories, we may be better off with synopses for the set narratives and let the fans fill the gaps with their headcanons.
I think Ox of Agonas should have been Legendary.